Vivian Shaw – författare

'This book is a joy to read, unlocking every bit of delicious promise in the premise' B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog Meet Greta Helsing, doctor to the undead.After inheriting a highly specialised, and highly peculiar, medical practice, Dr Helsing spends her days treating London's undead for a host of ills: vocal strain in banshees, arthritis in barrow-wights and entropy in mummies. Although barely making ends meet, this is just the quiet, supernatural-adjacent life Greta's dreamed of since childhood.But when a sect of murderous monks emerges, killing human undead and alike, Greta must use all her unusual skills to keep her supernatural clients - and the rest of London - safe.There are . . . few heroines as well-written and compelling as Greta Helsing'BookPage'Shaw balances an agile mystery with a pitch-perfect, droll narrative and cast of loveable misfit characters' Shelf Awareness'An imaginative, delightfully droll debut'Kirkus

'This book is a joy to read, unlocking every bit of delicious promise in the premise' B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog on Strange PracticeWhen Greta Helsing, doctor to the undead, is called to Paris to present at a medical conference, she expects nothing more exciting than professional discourse on zombie reconstructive surgery.Unfortunately for Greta, Paris happens to be infested with a coven of vampires - and not the civilised kind. If she hopes to survive, Greta must navigate the maze of ancient catacombs beneath the streets, where there is more to find than simply dead men's bones.Praise for the series:'I loved every page of it . . . a spectacularly fun book' Powder and Page'Balances an agile mystery with a pitch-perfect, droll narrative and a cast of loveable misfit characters' Shelf Awareness'Shaw's elegant writing makes this series a standout in the genre' Booklist'An absolute delight' Forbidden Planet'Packed with characters who are a pleasure to spend time with' ScifiNow

'Vivian Shaw knocks it out of the park yet again. If you aren't reading Dr Greta Helsing, you're missing out' T. Kingfisher, New York Times bestselling author Strange New World finds Greta Helsing, doctor to the undead, facing the strangest challenge of her career . . . accompanying an anxious angel and a sullen demon on a road trip across America in the clever conclusion to this delightful fantasy series.After narrowly avoiding the end of the world, the leaders of Heaven and Hell are struggling to collaborate according to the terms of their new treaty - especially because angels and demons are, quite literally, allergic to each other. Seeking a solution, the powers that be decide to see if the allergy persists on Earth by sending an angel and demon on a research trip, first stop: New York City. And what better chaperone than Dr Greta Helsing, who happens to owe Hell a few favours of her own?But there's unrest in New York's monster underworld and Greta and her team are about to land in the middle of it. Something is off in Heaven and on Earth, and Greta will have to figure out just what that is if she hopes to protect those she loves most.Praise for the series:'Deeply compassionate and endlessly surprising, this series will steal your heart' Grace D. Li, New York Times bestselling author'A playfully witty confection' Publishers Weekly'There are as few heroines as well written and compelling as Greta Helsing' BookPage'An exceptional and delightful debut, in the tradition of Good Omens and A Night in the Lonesome October' Elizabeth Bear, Hugo-award winning author'Shaw balances an agile mystery with a pitch-perfect, droll narrative and cast of lovable misfit characters . . . Strange Practice is a super(natural) read' Shelf Awareness'A book to settle into. A warm quilt of a thing that's made for curling up with . . . I miss this newest Helsing already' NPR

'This book is a joy to read, unlocking every bit of delicious promise in the premise' B&N Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog on Strange PracticeMEET GRETA HELSING, DOCTOR TO THE UNDEADIn the hills above Marseille, Oasis Natrun is a highly secret health spa for mummies, equipped with the very latest therapeutic innovations both magical and medical. To Dr Greta Helsing, it sounds like paradise. But when she takes the job of interim clinical director, it isn't long before Greta finds herself faced with a medical mystery that will take all her diagnostic skill to solve. With help from her friends and colleagues - including demons, witches and the inimitable vampyre Sir Francis Varney - Greta must put a stop to this mysterious illness before anybody else crumbles to irreparable dust.Praise for the series:'I loved every page of it . . . a spectacularly fun book' Powder and Page'Balances an agile mystery with a pitch-perfect, droll narrative and a cast of loveable misfit characters' Shelf Awareness'Shaw's elegant writing makes this series a standout in the genre' Booklist'Packed with characters who are a pleasure to spend time with' ScifiNow

Modern social movements frequently serve as a space to voice concerns in a supportive and collective context and thus are an important venue for individuals to learn how to speak up for themselves. With the rise of new generations and advancement of technology such as digital networks, contemporary Japanese social movements and activism have transformed significantly in recent years, now with more flexibility and less reliance on ideology and institutional foundations. The new patterns provide individuals different spaces and ways to get involved in "politics," which have shed the traditional settings and expectations. This transformation carries both advantages and risks. In Alternative Politics twelve original ethnographic studies illustrate how social movements are creating new alternatives for Japan in the current century. The term "alternative" has a double meaning. First, it refers to forms of political engagement that are outside the standard politics of political parties and institutional forums. Second, it engages with contemporary movements seeking an alternative politics that is culturally specific and historically embedded, an alternative to past periods of activism in Japan in the 1960s and 1970s often characterized as tainted, and causing the decline of social movement activity for nearly two decades.The introduction written by Slater and Steinhoff places the volume in historical, social, and methodological context and analyzes the main characteristics of the new social movements. Each chapter provides a rich description of a particular movement active between 1990 and 2020, showing what the participants wanted to achieve, how they tried to distance themselves from earlier movements, and how they used new social media and other innovations to do so. The accounts preserve the immediacy of the period when the fieldwork was conducted, but each end with a postscript bringing the movement up to date. Engagingly written by an international community of Japan specialists committed to doing extended fieldwork with small social movement groups, Alternative Politics will appeal to social scientists interested in activism and Japan specialists in various disciplines, as well as undergraduates in a wide range of courses.